The Blade III is available on the Virgin Media mobile network and continues ZTE's affordable legacy with Pay and Go prices starting at a meagre £80.

Despite its low price, the Blade III attempts to replicate the big-screen smartphone experience seen on most top-end Android handsets with a sizeable 4in WVGA 800x480 capacitive touchscreen.

Under the bonnet though, the technology is less impressive, as the handset is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM7227A processor and boasts just 512MB of RAM. It also has only 2.5GB of usable internal storage, but that can be expanded up to 32GB using its microSD card slot.

Despite the Blade III's modest specifications ZTE still has high ambitions for the device, hoping its affordable price will attract bargain hunting smartphone users.

"We paid close attention to user feedback when designing the Blade III. It is the first smartphone in its price range with a 4in touch screen and Android 4.0 and is very well suited for the UK market," said ZTE UK account director Kalam Meah.

"We believe that the ZTE Blade III will bring a quality mobile experience to a larger UK audience."

Aside from its large screen and tiny storage space, the Blade III has a 5MP rear-facing camera with autofocus and is powered by a 1,600mAh battery.